The present invention relates to a card-based system that can offer a user (e.g., a payment card holder) an alternative currency for payment.
A typical transaction terminal system, for example an automatic teller machine, a point of sale terminal, a workstation of the like, will offer transactions in a currency local to the transaction terminal system. However, sometimes users would wish to make a transaction in an alternative currency.
There is a need automatically to identify payments for which a user may wish to make a payment in a currency other than the currency local to the transaction terminal system. Some approaches to provide for the automatic determination of a currency for dynamic currency conversion have been proposed.
For example EP 1,018,711 discloses an approach that includes identifying an identifier code from a payment card number and comparing this to entries in a table containing issuer codes and a corresponding currency code to determine an operating currency for association with a card transaction.
International patent application WO 2006/009816 discloses an approach that includes a financial account number associated with a financial institution maintained by a customer being received, a foreign currency type associated with the financial account is determined, and a choice is presented to the user, the currency transaction then being conducted in accordance with a currency selection of the customer.
Depending upon technical and legislative requirements, different options for automatically determining a currency for currency conversion may not be available in all locations at which a card transaction terminal may be located. Accordingly, it has traditionally been necessary to support multiple card transaction terminals in order to address these needs.